Weill - The Seven Deadly Sins / Nagano, Stratas, Lyon Opera
by Peter Sellars
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Teresa StratasDirector: Peter Sellars
Conductor: Kent Nagano
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: German (Original Language)
Format: Classical, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 47 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-06-10
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Kultur Video
Movie Reviews of Weill - The Seven Deadly Sins / Nagano, Stratas, Lyon Opera
Movie Review: Bourgeois virtue = vice
Summary: 5 Stars
The full title of this incredible ballet chante by Kurt Weill (libretto by Bertold Brecht) is "The Seven Deadly Sins of the Petty Bourgeoisie." The last collaboration between Weill and Brecht, the ballet has nine scenes, one for each of the deadly sins plus a prologue and an epilogue. The action revolves around two sisters (or are they two personae of one and the same character?), Anna I and Anna II. Anna I is the primary singer, Anna II the primary dancer. The setting is the United States.
The two sisters are sent out by their family to make money and salvage the family's fortune. Along the way, they fall into "sin." But the depiction of sin has a deliciously satirical and anti-bourgeois spin in which Weill and Brecht in fact unmask typical middle-class virtues as vices. The transvaluation is really breath-taking.
So is Peter Sellars' creative direction, as well as the performance of the entire company. Sellars turns the leeching family into southern white trash that aspires to tacky middle class status, and the series of video-montage that punctuate and divide the scenes is brilliant. Teresa Stratas leads the superbly skilled company of singers, and her facial expressions and body language accentuate the beautiful tones of her voice. But for my money, Nora Kimball, Anna II, steals the show. Almost without a speaking voice in the ballet chante, Kimball's sensitive dancing is just as expressive of (variously) excitement, grief, belligerence, weariness, and homesickness as any libretto could be.
A masterful production. The artists are magnificent. If your experience when you watch The Seven Deadly Sins is similar to mine, you'll be torn between admiration for the aesthetics of the piece and uneasiness over its unsettling presentation of truths about middle class complacency that most of us would rather not hear.
Summary of Weill - The Seven Deadly Sins / Nagano, Stratas, Lyon Opera
Peter Sellars conceived this production of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's final collaboration specially for the screen. The performance is intercut with material recorded by Sellars himself on location in America. Sellars uses the contrast in the quality of the two recording formats to create a particular visual effect and to heighten the impact of his highly original version of this musical fable. Stars Teresa Stratas and Nora Kimball.Art House & International DVD Video
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